Man Kills wife and commits suicide

A 35-year old man, Godson Nyador shot and killed his wife at Tema Manhean at dawn on Monday on suspicion of her, having an illicit affair with her former husband.

Nyador, a former storekeeper of a construction company but currently unemployed, also committed suicide by shooting himself in the neck. His body was still lying in a pool of blood in his bed at their single room apartment at Club 24, a suburb of Tema Manhean, when the Ghana News Agency went to the scene at about 11am.

According to one of the co-tenants in the house, Mr Ashie Nii Kwei, they heard Nyador's wife Miss Emelia Dzagah, 25, screaming: "Help! Help! He will kill me! He will kill me!" at about 2:30am

All the co-tenants came out of their rooms and banged Nyador's door for him to open, but he refused until Nii Kwei broke the door open with his foot and Nyador's wife staggered out of the room looking weak and tired from struggles and beatings from her husband.

Nii Kwei said "Nyador then followed, holding a gun and without uttering any words, he pointed the gun at me and signalled me to clear off his path." Nyador then stood in front of his veranda and fired one shot at his wife and the bullet hit his wife in the shoulder and penetrated through to her chest, which sent her sprawling on to the floor, Nii Kwei added.

The incident scared the other tenants and the Landlady, who all scuttled back into their rooms but others came out later to pick Miss Dzagah in a taxi to the Tema General Hospital.

Nyador then went back into his room and shot himself dead. His wife was also pronounced dead soon after arrival at the hospital. "I am scared, I have never seen anything like this before," said Madam Agoe Boye, the 75 year-old Landlady.

The co-tenants said Nyador, who lost his job about a year ago, was a very quiet man, who neither took alcohol nor smoked and was always found reading his Bible quietly on his veranda.

"We are, therefore, even at a loss why he procured a gun, which he brought home about a month ago", said Miss Hannah Lawson. She said three months ago, Nyador accused his wife who was a petty trader of having an affair with her former husband, a driver at Tema Community Four, who was only named as Coffie.

This resulted in a quarrel and the woman packed out from her matrimonial home but returned after their families settled the matter. Miss Lawson said on Sunday night at about 9:00pm when the couple was having their dinner there was another quarrel. But things appeared to have cooled down and they all retired to bed.

The Tema Police, which is investigating the case have gone for the gun and taken some pictures from the couple's room and are expected to remove the body later in the day.

Many people, both men and women have condemned the rising practice of men shooting their wives. They referred to the recent incident where a Takoradi based Tanker owner shot dead his wife over a conversation she had on mobile phone.

A 47 year-old man also shot and killed his wife and sister in-law in Accra after accusing his wife of infidelity but he failed in an attempt to commit suicide. At Poase-Cement in the Kedjebi District of the Volta Region, a 60-year old "akpeteshie" distiller shot his wife dead in an argument over a rat meat and later committed suicide.